Coles puts its agency roster out to pitch

Chris Pash
By Chris Pash | 9 March 2022
 

Coles, a top ten spending advertiser in Australia, has thrown open its agency roster to pitch, for the first time in more than a decade.

Three of the big global advertising groups -- Omnicom Group, Publicis Groupe and WPP -- have been asked to respond to  an operational RFP.

The incumbents are DDB, Big Red, TBWA and OMD. Big Red is now out of the pitch process. 

Coles now wants to create a bespoke model to service the retail group and its evolving business and brand requirements.

 

And is seeking "greater synergies in the way its creative, media and strategic" work is performed.

Coles CMO Lisa Ronson wants to create a best-in-class agency partner structure.

“What the pandemic has shown us over the past two years is that we were able to have some of the best talent in the business come together to work with us to communicate with our customers across many channels during a very challenging time," she says.

"It happened very organically, and we are so grateful to the team of strategic, creative and media minds from DDB, Big Red, TBWA and OMD who ensured our messaging was clear and meaningful at a time the country relied on important information delivered with empathy and in the Coles tone of voice.

"What this model has taught us is that we have the opportunity to power our customer obsessed marketing model by marrying agency support with the customer problems we have prioritised, as well as supporting our increasing need for digital experiences and the brilliant store experiences that customers now expect."

Samantha McLeod, who recently joined as Coles General Manager of Brand, Digital and Design: “The goal is to design a bespoke model of industry leaders from all disciplines.

"New thinking and our ambition requires new ways of working. It is exciting to see what can be achieved working as a network of experts rather than a group of different agencies.

"I’m looking forward to working with our partners to design a new approach so we can continue to inspire our customers.

“Coles has worked outstandingly with one partner in Big Red for the biggest part of the last 12 years. On behalf of Coles, we’d like to thank everyone at Big Red for the contribution they’ve made to Coles."

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